Far From It

“This short sentimental story is a wonderful snapshot of two lost souls brief but poignant encounter with each other…”

During the Covid pandemic, Gabriel, an attractive young man, finds himself wandering through the quaint streets of a small French village, having fled his parents' home. Following a clumsy shoplifting attempt, he crosses paths with Wared, an elegant foreigner in her fifties.

Inspiring work from director Mario Ghabali that fully embraces the emotional core of the story for everyone to see. It’s a unique yet captivating story that’s well written and executed, making for a solid showcase of his ability as a filmmaker.

The dialogue flows naturally with plenty of realism, allowing both actors to bounce off each other with authenticity. Ghabali is also aware of the words not being said on the page and instead letting the actors silence help to tell the story, something that is often overlooked.

A key aspect of this film that Ghabali had to get right was the cast as they had a lot of heavy lifting to do with telling this story. Fortunately Andrea Poupard (Gabriel) and Darina Al Joundi (Wared) fit the roles perfectly as they have genuine chemistry with each other. Both actors clearly paid close attention to their backstories as you get a sense of history from them that’s being held back from one another. It’s hard to consider this story without Poupard or Joundi as it feels as though it was written for them in mind.

The cinematography from Noah Sanan is understated to help focus on the performances as this film didn’t call for dramatic camera angles and setups. Sometimes we find that DOP’s are too busy thinking about elaborate setups to showcase their abilities rather than telling the story. In this case Sanan was clearly inline with Ghabali vision. The lighting was crafted to great effect to establish a high quality look that was tastefully colour graded. This is a film that has a premium look for what we expect was low budget.

The same can be said of the score from Paul Toubia that hits all the right beats to elevate the drama within the story. In keeping with one memorable scene in the film with Gabriel and Wared dancing, the score took a similar approach by flowing back and fourth to create some superb moments.

Outstanding work from Ghabali and the whole team, this short sentimental story is a wonderful snapshot of two lost souls brief but poignant encounter with each other. Give it a watch if you can…

— APEX Film Awards